August 01, 2013

From Patient to Promotora: The Story of Nora Vigil

By Vivian Nguyen

Nearly two decades have
elapsed since Nora Vigil first arrived in El Cerrito, California from her
native Peru. For years, she struggled to assimilate into what she calls the “American
way of life.” However, when she joined Mujer, Salud y Liderazgo, a women’s
empowerment program sponsored by the Latina Center in Richmond, she began to
feel like she truly belonged.

“For my first few years
here, I tried to adapt to this new country,” Vigil said. “Becoming a part of
Mujer, Salud y Liderazgo really helped me go back to my roots and recognize the
issues in my Latino community.” Awareness of these problems compelled Vigil to become
a facilitator for sub-programs on topics such as domestic violence, mental
health, and unemployment. Currently, she serves as a board member for the
program.

Although she did not
know it at the time, Vigil’s experience as a Mujer would be a major influence on her decision to join the
community health movement. When private insurance premiums became too much of a
financial burden for Vigil and her husband, they were referred to LifeLong
Brookside Community Health Center by a friend who was also a patient advocate
for the clinic. Vigil and her husband were extremely satisfied with the
high-quality, affordable care that they received at LifeLong. After three years
as a patient, she decided that it was time to give back.

An opportunity to do
just that presented itself when LifeLong partnered with Community Clinic
Consortium to launch the pilot Health Promoter Program in the summer 2012. The
10-week leadership training program is designed to build the capacity of LifeLong
patients to become educators and advocates for their community. Upon
completion, trainees become certified volunteers and commit to a minimum of one
year working as a LifeLong Health Promoter.

“Patients make good
health promoters because they know what the community needs and the kinds of
services they should receive,” said Vigil, who graduated with the first cohort
of Health Promoters on August 22, 2012.

Her cohort identified
diabetes as the highest priority health issue, followed by obesity. According
to Vigil, LifeLong addresses these concerns by providing diabetes education
classes for its staff members, along with Cooking Matters courses on healthy
eating habits and culinary practices. Through programs such as these, health
promoters are given the opportunity to work with the community, which Vigil
says is the most rewarding aspect of being a promotora.

“As a health
promoter, I can be a resource for future generations,” Vigil said. “[When I
first joined the program], I was thinking more about myself and my own health
but now I realized how important it is to lead the community for the rest of
the women and for the future generations.”

And planning for the
future is just what Vigil aspires to do as the new Assistant Coordinator for
the Health Promoter program, which is currently seeking members for its second
cohort. In addition to her work as a promotora,
Vigil is the LifeLong representative for the Healthy Richmond Hub Steering Committee,
which works to improve the health and safety of all neighborhoods in Richmond,
California. She also serves on the Greater Bay Area Committee within Vision y
Compromiso, an organization that partners with community health workers to increase
access and improve quality of bilingual and bicultural health care for Latinos.
Through her journey from patient to promotora
to community advocate, Vigil hopes that her passion for health equity and her
dedication to her community will inspire others to follow suit.

“If you really want to
help the community, you have to put your heart into it,” Vigil said. “It’s very
important to keep in mind that you don’t just represent the clinic that you
work for—you represent the community.”

Vivian Nguyen is the Community Affairs Intern at Community Clinic Consortium. She can be reached at intern@clinicconsortium.org.

Comments

Lay advocacy groups must also encourage more funding for research, education of parents and finding treatments for children with these problems. Second, the exchanges method simply lumped foods into carb, fat and protein categories which ignores the fact that most foods are a combination of all three. When a person invests in a diet plan, they want to know what foods are allowed and which ones are not acceptable.